Outside Spenders, Local Elections

Koch Brothers' Americans for Prosperity Sinks Its Undisclosed, Unregulated Money Into Local Affairs

June 18, 2014 - Unregulated, undisclosed spending made possible by the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has left local communities defenseless against national organizations intent on interfering with their affairs, according to a report released today by Public Citizen.

In this report, “Outside Spenders, Local Elections,” Public Citizen outlines several, relatively obscure, local elections that the 501(c)(4) group Americans for Prosperity sought to influence.

The report chronicles six elections where Americans for Prosperity, founded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, drowned out local issues to pursue its own agenda. In at least one election, local residents lamented that issues that actually mattered were being pushed aside because of the involvement of Americans for Prosperity.